I have a friend who makes a living trading gold, and he only trades bars. He's not doing it for long term investment - just short term profit (buy low/sell high). If you want to actually have the gold in your hand, foil is another thing to think about - more convenient than bars, but less minting premium than coins. I don't think it's really worth the premium to get coins - you'll always find someone who wants to buy bars or foil.
Getting gold as an exchange-traded commodity (ETC) as contract notes isn't as risky as the dealers would have you believe (remember it's in their interest to convince you to buy gold off them). The issuers are all the kinds of companies that are most likely to be bailed out by a government if they do come close to going under. If you do go this way, go with a company that primarily acts as an issuer for ETCs - you don't want to go with a hedge fund that does it on the side, as they'd be more likely to be doing risky things with borrowed money.
Just my random thoughts - hope it doesn't make you more confused.